Innholdsfortegnelse for 1001 Mountain Biking Tips 2023 i 1001 Mountain Bike Tips 2023

Cornering is one of the most important and rewarding aspects of mountain biking, whether you’re a speed-hungry racer, a thrill-seeking freerider or a beginner just starting out on your MTB journey. There are many types of corners, including grassy off-camber turns, narrow rocky gullies, steep greasy ruts and root-infested gnar. But some of the most rewarding ones to nail perfectly are the ‘berms’ (banked turns) you’ll find at bike parks and trail centres, and, at the other end of the scale, the less supportive corners you’re likely to encounter on more natural trails. So, we’ve asked pro MTBer Tom Isted to share his top tips for railing berms and flat turns. 01 BERMS Begin by setting yourself up wide before the berm, giving you a good angle of attack as…

From your local trail centre to remote high-alpine paths, switchbacks are a necessity for trail builders seeking to steer our favourite tracks up steep mountainsides. Former downhill and enduro world champ Tracy Moseley explains how to negotiate them with confidence. BIKE SET-UP Some small tweaks to your set-up can really help when it comes to tackling uphill hairpins. SADDLE ANGLE Having your saddle level will stop you sliding off the rear when riding uphill. It’ll also allow you to shift your weight forward more easily when you need to and help keep you balanced in the centre of the bike. SADDLE HEIGHT When you’re learning to ride switchbacks, dropping your saddle a centimetre or two (if you have a dropper post) just as you reach the turn will allow you…

“Hang off the back! Hang off the back!” – I often hear this being shouted at riders by their mates as they try to ride steep sections. But hanging off the back of the bike makes chutes dangerous for several reasons. It gives you zero front wheel grip, bucks you forward if you hit a bump and gives you the least amount of stability on the bike. So, what should you do to make sure you get max grip, zero bucking and complete stability? STEEPS SKILLS Putting it all together Approaching the chute, make sure you have a solid posture on the bike with elbows bent, weight through your heels, legs straight but supple and hips bent. As you roll into it, keep your legs as they are and allow…

Full-sus bikes are so light and versatile these days that it sometimes feels as if there’s no place left for the old faithful hardtail. But don’t discount bikes with a rigid rear end just yet. They’re a load of fun and can teach you a lot of skills. What’s more, there’s something refreshing about the back-to-basics simplicity of a hardtail, not to mention that they’re cheaper and a whole lot easier to maintain, especially in the wetter months. BIKE CHOICE AND SET-UP Bike size The size you choose has a bigger impact on how a hardtail rides than it does on a full-sus, because frames tend to be higher and don’t sag under your weight. Longer top tubes and seat tubes are great for XC, but at the expense of…

01 JUMPING too EARLY As with anything in life, timing is everything. Many riders try to take off too early, and this can cause issues, especially if you’re new to jumping. Firstly, you won’t actually jump that far, but it can also be unsafe and may even throw you over the bars if the back wheel gets bucked. You should be aiming to jump when YOU get close to the top of the lip, not when you think your front wheel is there. 02 PULLING UP ‘Pulling up’ is a term often used in relation to jumping, but you shouldn’t rely on tugging on the handlebar to get airborne. This requires you to have equal strength through both arms, and if one is stronger than the other, you can end…

‘Arm pump’ is a catch-all term for problems that affect mountain bikers’ arms, wrists and hands on prolonged descents, especially over rough terrain. It hits hard and fast and has many symptoms – from rock-solid forearms to talon-like fingers that you have to peel off the bar, or hand cramps that make medieval torture techniques look like child’s play – but no single, irrefutable cause. Here are a few things you can do to help stop it ruining your fun on the downhills. PRO-FILE CHRIS KILMURRAY JOB Coach at Point1 Athletic Development CREDENTIALS After racing national and World Cup level downhill from a young age, Chris now coaches riders including Tahnée Seagrave and Greg Callaghan. RIDING FIXES Improving your riding position can help reduce arm pump. There’s no perfect template to try…

TYRE CARCASSES TUBELESS SEALANT What is tubeless sealant? Tubeless sealant is a liquid designed to plug small holes in a tyre’s casing, thus preventing punctures. It works a bit like blood clotting to prevent bleeding. There are two main types – latex-based and latex-free. Latex-based sealant These use the coagulating properties of synthetic latex to clog punctures. Latex is a dispersion of polymers (long-chain molecules) in water. Inside a hole in the tyre, there’s a drop in air pressure and a rush of air. This causes the water to evaporate, leaving the latex molecules to coagulate, plugging the hole. Sealing particles Most latex-based sealants also contain small particles, such as glitter. These provide a surface for the latex to coagulate around, helping it to seal holes more quickly and effectively.…

KIT ESSENTIALS QUICK FIX TIPS Get the right chain length JARGON BUSTER SPLIT LINK Chains are made up of alternating inner and outer plates, joined with pins. A split link (aka master link), such as a SRAM PowerLock, Shimano Quick-Link or KMC MissingLink, takes the place of a pair of outer plates and is a quicker and easier way to join/split a chain than fitting a new pin. QUICK FIX TIPS Replacing a gear cable JARGON BUSTER BARREL ADJUSTER This adjusts the tension in the inner cable, to fine tune the shifting. Turning it anticlockwise increases the tension, making the mech quicker to shift into the larger sprockets. As the inner cable ‘stretches’, you may need to increase the tension to compensate.…

01 STAND UP One of the first things any mountain biker must learn is how to comfortably stand up on a bike while it’s rolling along. Imagine you’re standing on the ground, and you want maximum balance and stability. What do you do? I assume you’d find level ground, your legs would be energised (ready to move) and you wouldn’t stand on your tiptoes. If you transfer this across to standing on the pedals, the first point is to keep your cranks level (your flat ground), then apply weight through your heels (not standing on your tiptoes) plus keep your legs energised and ready to move. Once you’re balanced and comfortable standing up while rolling along, the next step is to practise standing up and pedalling. It’s useful to pull on…

There are two main aspects of learning to ride well. One is technical – how you move your body to make the bike work properly for you. The other is how you read the trail. Being able to pick a good line and look, brake and accelerate in the right places will make you faster without even feeling like you’re going quicker. Reading the trail can be tough to master, but once you do, everything seems easier and you find more flow. It’s all about looking and thinking ahead. Whether you’re familiar with the trail or not, there are four key considerations that’ll help you plan how to tackle it and react in time, improving your riding no end – and upping the fun factor, too! 01 SELECTING LINES Choosing the…

Picking the front wheel up to launch off an edge and land flat on two wheels is an essential skill for any mountain biker. It’s also one that we see a lot of riders struggling with, whether through dropping the front wheel too early or not picking it up at all, at the risk of catching a chainring or going over the bars. We reckon most people’s problems come from either wrong body position, timing or speed, or simply a lack of confidence. If any of these ring a bell, read on and, with a bit of practice, soon you’ll feel much more confident diving headlong into technical trails. 01 TIMING The two key elements to riding a drop-off are driving your feet forward through the pedals and shifting your weight…

Rock gardens add both fun and fear to the trail. If you get them wrong, you’re in for a wild ride, but when you get them right, you can carry your flow and keep on smiling as you go. Here are our top tips for choosing the best way to negotiate them in safety and style. 01 THE SMOOTH LINE This is the path of least resistance, which avoids the biggest holes and rocks. Body position is key here, so that you can adjust your direction as you go. Lean too far back and you won’t be able to steer accurately. Balance too far forward and you’ll get caught by a bump. So find a centred position and use your eyes to guide you through, always looking ahead. Stay relaxed and…

Manualling over rollers is a great way to gain speed and maintain control while looking super-stylish. Putting these steps into practice should get you loving the back wheel in no time! PRO-FILE NATASHA BRADLEY JOB 4X racer & MTB coach CREDENTIALS Tash is one of the world’s fastest four-cross racers. She finished second at the last two World Championships and races in the Senior Men’s category at UK national races to hone her skills. As well as being blisteringly fast and stylish on a bike, Tash is a qualified British Cycling skills coach.  www.mtbdevon.com Start in the ‘ready position’ – arms and legs slightly bent, eyes forward and weight distributed evenly (50 per cent through the arms and 50 per cent through the legs). STEP 1 As you spot the…

All jumps are different, but the technique for jumping stays the same. The only changes are your entry speed and your energy input. Judging how much speed and ‘pop’ you need to clear a jump comes with practice. ‘Boosting’ is useful if there’s a jump that you need more energy and height to clear in order to reach the landing safely. Perhaps the jump is uphill (a step-up), maybe the track is muddy or it might just be a really big jump. The higher you need to boost, then the more energy you need to take off with. This is a balance between your entry speed and the amount of force used to compress and then pop up. Start in the ready position, with arms and legs slightly bent and…

When you hit a corner well, you know it – the bike just grips, you exit with speed and the whole process feels effortless. But what if you find that you’re losing all your speed in turns, sliding out or, even worse, crashing? The key to learning to corner confidently and smoothly is to avoid some common mistakes and build consistency. Here are four things that a lot of riders get wrong – and how to fix them. PEDALLING OUT OF THE CORNER I’m sure you’ve been there, chasing your mate who’s a little bit faster than you. You start to pedal out of the corners to keep up, but they keep pulling away. That’s because pedalling out of the corners unbalances the bike, reducing grip, and therefore speed. The…

We get that not all mountain bikers are racers, but there really is something special about pushing yourself as fast as you can on a bike. And there’s no better place to do that than at a downhill race. You inspect the track before you ride, the route is clearly marked and medics are on-site at all times. If you’re a rider who’s always trying to gas the descents as fast as possible, try downhill racing – it may well be a challenge you’ll relish. 01 PREP BEFORE YOU GO Making sure you have your bike organised, kit ready, food and water supplies stocked up, and your sleeping arrangements sorted – whether that’s camping or something more luxurious – before you get to the race site will relieve a lot of…

RE-RIDE SECTIONS. TOO MANY PEOPLE MESS UP A CORNER AND DON’T RETURN TO FIND OUT WHY Racing mountain bikes is as exciting as it is nerve-wracking, giving you the opportunity to push body and bike to the limit, whether it’s a local enduro race or a DH World Cup. Although competing against the clock can be a way to make a living for some, for most it’s done for the enjoyment and camaraderie that comes from being with friends and challenging yourself while having fun. This being said, we all want to leave the track feeling that we’ve given our best and are satisfied with our performance, regardless of where we are on the time sheet. During winter, pro riders spend their months preparing hard for the racing to comen during…

Many so-called ‘women’s bikes’ are just ‘unisex’ models (which is in itself a bit of a misnomer, because the frames tend to be designed around typical male proportions) with some flowery colours and a wider saddle. They may be available in smaller sizes, but generally have the same geometry (Canyon and Liv are the only brands currently offering female-specific MTB frames). And choice is often distinctly limited, in terms of the different models and specs available. All of this means that buying a unisex bike and fine-tuning it to suit can often be the best route to go down, especially for more serious, aggressive, taller or heavier female riders. Here are some set-up pointers… 01 SADDLE Saddle soreness may just be the most talked-about topic in women’s cycling, so fitting…

Sharp switchbacks can be a real flow-killer, causing you to stop, dab a foot or even get off the bike. They rarely feature in bike parks for this reason, but if you ever head off-piste in mountainous terrain, you’re sure to find them. Here, former world downhill and enduro champ Tracy Moseley shows how you can use an advanced endo technique to balance on the front wheel of the bike, allowing you to ride ‘feet up’ and keep your flow as you negotiate the turn. PRO-FILE TRACY MOSELEY JOB Trek Bikes ambassador, EWS Continental Series delegate and T-Mo Racing team manager CREDENTIALS As a former downhill world champion and World Cup series winner, three-time Enduro World Series title holder and technical coach to the British Cycling cross-country team, there’s not much…

Pump tracks are one of the most versatile and accessible types of trail that can be built. They can fit into almost any space, be ridden by nearly anyone on any kind of bike and, if designed well, provide hours of entertainment. Besides which, they get you damn fit in the process! From bike parks to city parks and even schools, new tracks are popping up everywhere these days – and there’s even a Pump Track World Champs. While you don’t need any riding experience to have a go, there are some basic skills that’ll come in handy and that the pump track can help you master. Get these dialled and you’ll be blasting out the laps without so much as a pedal stroke. PRO-FILE NIKKI WHILES Job: Director at…

‘Squashing’ a jump helps you gain speed and save time when racing. The technique first appeared in BMX racing, when riders discovered it was faster to stay low than expend time in the air. Squashing jumps is useful in four-cross, because races are under a minute long so every second counts. Staying lower to the ground means you can land on the jump’s downside as quickly as possible and get back on the pedals. This technique can also be used in any type of timed race where the course features jumps. As before, you want to roll into the jump in the ready position – arms and legs slightly bent with 50 per cent of your weight through your hands, 50 per cent through your feet – and looking ahead…

E-bikes bring another dimension to a mountain bike ride. While they may look very similar to normal trail bikes – albeit with a heavy battery, a motor and generally wider tyres – they require a different approach to set-up in order to maximise performance and get more than just a boost up the hills. SET YOUR SAG Taking time to properly set up your suspension is vital. With the bike being heavier than a regular trail bike, your fork and shock will probably require more air pressure to achieve the correct sag. Have a friend help while you stand up on the bike, and measure the sag on the fork and shock. Aim for between 15 and 25 per cent at the front, and 20 to 30 per cent at…

You’ve heard it 100 times before – sitting is bad for you, your sedentary office job will kill you and so on. The real culprit is time. Hours accumulated at your desk can cause issues with mobility, flexibility and strength, from your ankles right up to your neck. All of which can impact your fun, speed and safety on the trail. Here are three moves to do daily at your desk to help you avoid sitting’s negative consequences. CHRIS KILMURRAY 1 Cow arms Borrowed from yoga, this is a simple (but not easy) move for the shoulders and upper back. One hand goes up and over your head then behind your back, the other slides under your shoulder blade to clasp the other hand in the centre of your back. Hold…

When to adjust air pressure The air pressure dictates the suspension’s spring rate. In other words, it determines its ‘firmness’ throughout its travel. If the suspension is too soft, there’s too much sag (the proportion of the bike’s travel that’s used when sitting still on it) – ie. more than 30 per cent of the available stroke – and the bike sits too low in its travel, add more air pressure. Reduce air pressure if the sag is too low – typically less than 25 per cent. This will cause the bike to sit too high in its travel, so it’ll lack traction and feel skittish in the rough or unstable on steep descents. You may also struggle to use full travel. When to add/remove volume spacers For a given…

We know what it’s like – despite the best intentions, as soon as the nights draw in and the rain doesn’t stop for weeks on end, motivation to ride your bike can dwindle. Once the days get longer the desire to get out and ride returns, but more often than not a winter of neglect has taken its toll and your bike will need more than a squirt of WD-40, especially if it’s been sulking in your shed most of the time. Here’s how to get it running sweet as a nut… PREPARE YOUR BODY! Winter will likely have taken a toll on your body too. Here’s how to resurrect yourself… 01 Take it easy If you’ve not ridden for a while you’ll have lost some of your fitness so don’t…

TYRE PRESSURES Grip Generally speaking, lower tyre pressures provide more traction. A softer tyre has more rubber tread on the ground and thus offers more mechanical grip, especially on soft ground. The tyre also deforms more easily over uneven surfaces like rocks and roots, resulting in less deflection from your chosen line. Rolling speed While higher tyre pressures can reduce rolling resistance slightly on smooth terrain, lower pressures can – contrary to popular belief – reduce the energy taken to roll over bumpy ground. This is because a softer tyre transmits less vibration through to the bike’s suspension and rider. Comfort Again, running lower pressures allows a tyre to absorb small bumps more effectively, which reduces the amount of trail feedback and buzz transmitted to the rider. This helps prevent…